To Everything There Is A Season/Part 2
"This one finds it particularly curious that you would attach yourself to such a creature even as you were trying to nurse it back to health, Smurfette," Polaris commented. "That's how Smurfs are to most creatures of the forest, even those that are smaller than themselves, Polaris," Empath said. "Well, the following morning I was showing off Squeaky to the other Smurfs, and a good deal of them seemed pleased that he was smurfing all better," Smurfette said. And as she continued her story, Empath and Polaris saw that Smurfette had emerged from her house on the following morning, to be greeted by Tapper and Duncan who were just outside her house at that moment. "Smurf o' the morning to you, my dear Smurfette," Tapper said. "I can see that your little friend is smurfing a whole lot better than he was yesterday." "He sure is, Tapper," Smurfette said. "I just smurfed him Papa Smurf's herbal broth and smurfed him to sleep, and he woke me in the middle of the night feeling all better." "He certainly is an adorable little mouse there, lassie," Duncan said. "You're still thinking of keeping him as a pet?" "That's what I'm going to ask Papa Smurf about when I smurf him today, Duncan," Smurfette responded. "I don't think that I can smurf another day without him being around." "You may have to if the mouse has family to smurf home to in the forest, Smurfette," Tapper said. "But I'm sure Papa Smurf won't refuse to let you keep him if that's not the case." "Let's let the fair maiden enjoy her day with her new pet, if that's what the mouse is going to be, laddie," Duncan said. "We'll smurf you later, Smurfette." After Tapper and Duncan walked away, Smurfette turned to the little mouse. "I hope the other Smurfs will be just as happy that you're feeling better, Squeaky," she spoke. Just then, Hefty, Greedy, and Sloppy showed up. "Morning, Smurfette," Hefty greeted. "I see that your little pet is up and smurfing after last night." "It must be the herbal broth, which came from my own special recipe," Greedy said. "The little fellow sure looks cute and all, Smurfette," Sloppy said. "Does he have a name?" "I'm calling him Squeaky, Sloppy," Smurfette replied. "Here, Squeaky, let's see if you can play fetch," Hefty said as he picked up a twig lying on the ground and threw it a short distance. Squeaky quickly ran, fetched the twig, and brought it back to Hefty. "Hey, Squeaky, why not try one of my smurfberries?" Greedy said as he pulled out a smurfberry from his bag and threw it to the mouse, who then caught it with his mouth and swallowed it. "How about trying one of mine, Squeaky?" Sloppy said as he pulled out a smurfberry from his bag and threw it. Squeaky caught it and tried to eat it, but then suddenly spat it back out. "Oh, Sloppy, those smurfberries are rotten," Smurfette said, sounding displeased with what Sloppy tried to offer Squeaky. "Naturally rotten, Smurfette, which is just the way I like them," Sloppy said, taking out a smurfberry from his bag and popping it into his mouth. "Sloppy, you're just so...so...so...sloppy!" Smurfette fumed. "Come along, Squeaky, we might as well go see Papa Smurf." The three Smurfs watched as Smurfette walked off with her nose in the air, with Squeaky following after her. "Nice smurfing there, Sloppy," Hefty said, also sounding displeased. "Hey, I was just trying to offer something that Squeaky might like," Sloppy said in his defense. "I can't help it if her mouse is so picky." ----- Meanwhile, Papa Smurf was in his laboratory working on an experiment. "Thistle branch, sassafras...or is it oak bane?" he said as he was mixing together the ingredients of a formula. "It's been quite a while since I smurfed this elixir." He squeezed a bit of the formula into a dropper and then squeezed it into a pot of soil with a seed implanted that was sitting on the table next to the cauldron. It produced a small explosion that covered Papa Smurf's face in soot, but there was nothing coming from the pot of soil. "Hmmm, I guess that it was oak bane," he said, shrugging his shoulders. Suddenly he heard a knocking on his door. Papa Smurf wiped his face clean with a towel and went to the door to answer. "Smurfette," he said as soon as he recognized who it was. "I see that your little friend is feeling better." "He's all well, Papa Smurf, thanks to your broth," Smurfette said as she and Squeaky went inside the laboratory. Papa Smurf chuckled. "I think that it was your love and care more than the broth than smurfed him back to health, Smurfette," he said as he petted Squeaky. "Have you given him a name yet?" "I call him Squeaky, Papa Smurf," Smurfette responded, picking the mouse up and holding him in her arms. "I was just wondering if I can keep him for a pet in my house." "Well, that should be his choice, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "First, give him a chance to return to the forest. He may have a family of his own." "That's what Tapper had suggested, Papa Smurf," Smurfette said. "But I guess you're also right if that's what I should do." "I know it's hard to smurf go of somebody you love, but sometimes that's what's got to happen if you truly care about somebody you love, because we can never truly love them unless we give them the freedom to smurf home to where they came from," Papa Smurf said. "Besides, you wouldn't want to return to the Smurf you were when Gargamel first created you, would you?" "Of course not, Papa Smurf," Smurfette said, finding herself sounding like she wanted to cry. "I would never smurf anybody hostage like that evil wizard would if he captured me or any of my friends here." "I will let you decide how you want to handle this, Smurfette, but I'm only speaking this to you because I care about you and your little friend," Papa Smurf said. ----- And so with a few Smurfs standing beside her, Smurfette took Squeaky out to the edge of the forest to see him off. "You're all better now, Squeaky," Smurfette said. "You can smurf home now...if you want to." Squeaky looked at Smurfette as if wondering that's what she wanted of him, and then started to scurry off into the forest. "Goodbye, Squeaky," Smurfette said, sounding like she would break into tears at any minute. "I hate goodbyes," Grouchy said. "Oh, don't be sad, Smurfette," Hefty said, putting his hand on Smurfette's shoulder to comfort her as he escorted her back to the village. "Squeaky's got a beautiful home out there in the forest." Smurfette wiped the tears from her face. "I'll be okay, Hefty," she said. "Maybe I'll get to smurf him again someday when he..." Then the Smurfs heard a squeak coming from behind. Smurfette turned and saw that it was Squeaky, returning from the forest. "Oh, Squeaky, you've come back," Smurfette squealed with joy as she received the mouse into her arms and held him close to her. "Michty me, lassie, it smurfs like the little fellow is yours to keep," Duncan said as he and Tapper watched. "I'm so pleased for you, Smurfette," Tapper said. "Perhaps it is the Almighty's will that he should remain with you so you could smurf care of him." "I hate the Almighty's will," Grouchy said. Smurfette was so full of joy that she ran straight toward Papa Smurf's laboratory to tell the village leader the good news. "Papa Smurf, Papa Smurf!" she cried out. "Squeaky has returned to me!" Papa Smurf smiled. "Well, Smurfette, it seems to be that you have yourself a pet." ----- "This one is pleased that you have been given the opportunity to have a mouse be your pet, Smurfette," Polaris said. "In some ways, Squeaky was also the pet of the whole village, as most of the Smurfs wanted to smurf something for him to make his stay quite welcome," Smurfette said. "You said 'most of the Smurfs', Smurfette," Empath said. "That does imply that there were still some Smurfs that were rather uncomfortable." "Unfortunately, there were, Empath," Smurfette said with a heavy sigh. And as she continued on with her story, Empath and Polaris saw that Smurfette was outside her house watering her flowers with Squeaky there to keep her company when Handy arrived, hiding something behind his back. "Hi, Smurfette," Handy greeted. "I have smurfed something for Squeaky." He pulled it out from behind his back to show Smurfette. "It's his very own mouse house that he can smurf in." Smurfette saw the mouse house, which looked like a miniature version of a normal Smurf house. "Oh, that just looks very smurfy, Handy," she said, sounding pleased. Handy placed the mouse house down on the ground to let Squeaky go inside and try it for himself. The mouse seemed very pleased with the new house. "Hey, Smurfette, I have just smurfed up these mouse muffins for Squeaky," Greedy said as he showed up carrying a tray of very small muffins. "Oh, thank you, Greedy," Smurfette said. "I'm sure that Squeaky will enjoy them." "Hey, Smurfette, I just smurfed up a pile of my best garbage for Squeaky," Sloppy said as he showed up carrying a big bag of garbage. "Phew...even his best garbage still smurfs to high heaven," Greedy said, holding his nose at the smell. "You can smurf that again, Greedy," Handy said, also holding his nose. "Well, uh...thank you, Sloppy," Smurfette said, trying to sound grateful. "Just put it down...over there." She pointed in a direction that was away from her house. "Oh, sure, Smurfette, whatever you say," Sloppy said as he carried the garbage to the direction Smurfette was pointing in. Brainy and Clumsy were standing at a distance watching the Smurfs give Smurfette their gifts for Squeaky. "Gosh, Brainy, I wish that I could give Smurfette a present for Squeaky," he said. "He just seems so happy smurfing here." "I don't know about this, Clumsy," Brainy said. "I still don't think that a mouse is a smurfy pet for a Smurfette." "But why not, Brainy?" Clumsy asked. "He doesn't seem to be smurfing anything dangerous to her." "I don't think you truly understand what it means to smurf a proper pet for a Smurfette, Clumsy," Brainy said. "What if the mouse should smurf into things that he's not supposed to smurf into, like the storehouse full of food that we smurf away for the winter?" "You don't think Smurfette is capable of smurfing Squeaky from doing that?" Clumsy asked. "I think that she can." "Just don't say that I didn't warn you if Squeaky smurfs something bad that we're all going to regret, including Smurfette," Brainy said. ----- "It's rather unfortunate that some Smurfs can only see the worst happening when it comes to creatures that they see are poor companions for their friends," Polaris observed. "I honestly didn't have a problem with Squeaky, and I'm sorry that Brainy just couldn't see that for the short time that I got to smurf with him," Smurfette said. "So what exactly led to Squeaky's death, so that Polaris will know for certain, Smurfette?" Empath asked. "Papa Smurf was working on an experiment that night, and he left it smurfing over a flame until morning, and that's when his laboratory smurfed on fire, and nobody knew about it but Squeaky, who informed me," Smurfette answered. And as Smurfette continued her story, Empath and Polaris saw that Papa Smurf was working on the same experiment that he was working on earlier, putting ingredients into a cauldron. "A sprig of must moss, a leaf of thistle branch, and last but not least, some oak bane," Papa Smurf said. He backed up a little as he put the last ingredient into the cauldron, expecting an explosion or some kind of reaction, but the mixture remained stable. "Ah, it works!" Papa Smurf said, pleased of the result that he saw. "Now I'll just let this elixir smurf until morning." He then picked up the cauldron and set it over a candle, watching for a while until he could see the mixture bubbling. Satisfied with what he saw, Papa Smurf yawned and headed out of the laboratory for his bedroom to get some sleep. Over the course of the night, some wind blew through the laboratory's windows, causing a stack of papers to be blown over onto the candle that the cauldron was set over, starting a fire. Nobody noticed that it was also setting the laboratory on fire but Squeaky, who was awakened by the smell and then saw what was happening. Realizing the danger, he quickly scurried into Smurfette's house and climbed up into her bedroom to wake his mistress up. Smurfette heard Squeaky squeak noisily in her ears and instantly woke up. "Squeaky, what's wrong?" she asked as she turned to her pet. Squeaky leaped from her bed and headed for the window near her bedroom to direct his mistress' attention. There she saw what had awakened Squeaky. "Oh my smurfness...Papa Smurf's laboratory!" Smurfette cried out. She headed out of her house in a flash and started calling out, "Papa Smurf! Papa Smurf! Wake up! Your laboratory is on fire!" Papa Smurf woke up when he heard Smurfette's voice and saw for himself. "Great Smurfness! Call the Fire Brigade, my little Smurfs!" Smurfette went to the village bell and rung it. "Fire! Fire! Every Smurf, wake up! Papa Smurf's lab is on fire!" The other Smurfs woke up when they heard Papa Smurf call out and got dressed to deal with the problem immediately. Handy led a group of Smurfs to Papa Smurf's house with his fire engine, setting it up to get as much water from the well as they could while unreeling the hose to get inside the laboratory and start hosing it down to put out the fire. Soon the fire was out, and the Smurfs who were waiting outside watching the whole thing cheered. "My formula books are safe and no Smurf is hurt, thanks to you, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said after he examined the condition of his laboratory. "No, Papa Smurf, it's all thanks to Squeaky," Smurfette said, as she directed the village leader's attention to her pet mouse. "He's the real hero." "He is indeed," Papa Smurf said, leaning over to pet the mouse, who somehow started to look rather exhausted and sick. "Oh, gosh, Smurfette's little pet just saved Papa Smurf's laboratory from a fire, Brainy," Clumsy said. "Isn't that just great?" "I can see that for myself, Clumsy," Brainy said. "But one good deed isn't enough to make me see this little creature as anything but a nuisance to us all." "O thou of very little faith, my fellow Brainy," Tapper said. "Smurfette's little pet has been anything but a nuisance up until now. In fact, he seems more like a godsend." "You're just jealous that Smurfette prefers the company of that little mouse more than she prefers you, laddie," Duncan said. "We'll see about that, my fellow Smurfs, we'll see," Brainy said, still unconvinced. Smurf to Part 3 Category:Empath the Luckiest Smurf stories Category:To Everything There Is A Season chapters